Nevada County picayune., 1887-06-15
AGRICULTURAL.
Corn and Cotton.

main crops and got them under way. the work of continued culti- vation will absorb most of the time and attention of the farmer If the.seasons during May. in any given section, have been propitious the main object in view in culti. vating the crop will be to keep the surface soil in a light, friable condition. The minimizing labor. CT conceives that the thief end Of blowing and hoeing is to prevent the weeds from choking the crop. To such man (perhaps there are many such) the grass and weeds are a blessing in disguise com polling him to give the cultivation which would he needed, even in the absense of such blessing. Deep blowing of growing crops is now not in order, excepting, of course. late planted fields not be-
 fore well plowed. We want to in- duce a moderately rapid.and health ful growth of the stalks of cotton and corn-the making of weed, as it is called in the case of cotton. Therefore the roots of the plants should not be torn and broken more than is absolutely necessary. The upper inch or two of the soil should be kept open and loose. The crust which forms after rain prevents the easy access of the atr above-laden with plant food in the form of carbonic acid and nitrogen should be broken as often as may he found eXpedi- ent, not less than once in every ten days or two weeks. The layer oi soft mellow soil that IS left be. hind the cultivating implements acts very decidedly as a mulching to the layer below in which the roots are penetrating in every di- rectiou. Such a layer of loose soil is a poor conductor of heat and therefore protects the roots of the crop from the two feryid and scorching rays of the sun; and the interstices are not fine and close enough to act as capillaries in bringing up the moisture from the soil about the roots,to be evap. orated and lost, as would be the case If the crust were permitted to remain undisturbed. It should be the aim, therefore, to go oyer a crop as rapidly as possible after Il goood season of rain and to keep the surface as constantly as possi- ble in this loose, open condition. How often crop should he plOw- ed over is, as already hinted, a question of eXpediency. While it is true that crop growing on poor land and but lightly fertilized will receive greater ratio of bene
 fit from frequent and thorough cultivation than will crop grow ing on rich or well tertilized soil, yet it pays best to give the natu- rally rich or highly fertilized land the preference-the best and most frequent cultivation.
 Several years ago while watch ing tbe blowing of a field ofcotton with 2i inch swceps-two turrows to the middle we were struck with the fact that, in making the return or second furrow. the big sweep was doing substantially little more original work than might have been done ny three inch garden hoe. The greater part of the cut ting edge of the sweep was lap ping over and passing along the furrow run just a few moments be. fore. To remedy this on the spot we directed the plowman to side "by the row." and skip every oth- CT row vi. [. side both sides of ev- cry other TOW. The resul, was gain of just one half the time, and doing the work--so far as merely stirring the soil was con. eerned almost as perfectly as if two furrOwS had been run in each middle. Tais saving of time made II possible to stir the soil-practi- cally the entire surface twice as often as before with precisely the same labor Of course at the next blowing the rows not sided before received the special attention, the others being left. We were so pleased with the plant that it was adopted as permanent resort, es. pecially when it was desirable to go over the crop very rapidly, as immediately after a heavy rain. The principle involved Is more or